Welcome!
IN A FEW WORDS
All that’s Jas is a website dedicated to authentic international food made simple and accessible while preserving their true flavors.
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Nothing compares to homemade food. It almost feels like magic when you prepare a delicious meal yourself. It is also THE best way for bonding with family and friends and such an ego booster.
Whether you’re new to cooking or don’t have the time (trust me, we all wish we had more time) my goal is to help you learn a few tricks and skills to create new family favorites that save time and money.
I believe know that you can make a tasty meal in about 30 minutes with only a handful of ingredients. The food was a luxury during our civil war and I learned how to make and stretch a meal out of nothing. Now I want to teach you how to make dishes that are wholesome and delicious at the same time. If they taste like cardboard, I’m adding flavor. Food is meant to be enjoyed. I believe moderation is the key to a healthy lifestyle.
So what you’ll find here is a diversity of foods, but you won’t find showy ingredients. No caviar (gross anyways) or food I can’t even pronounce.
Think simple yummy meals made by locals rather than dishes served at five-star restaurants in touristy cities. I’ll skip the $25 vanilla beans and stick with vanilla extract instead. The fanciest thing about my spices is that they’re organic because it’s a healthier option.
Although I love when a meal comes together quickly I also love when I spend half the day in my kitchen to create a delicious dinner for my family. Variety is the spice of life and is healthy for you, too. Be ADVENTUROUS! Try new foods. Life is too short to only have apples and peanut butter & jelly.
Go on a tasting adventure around the world through your own kitchen!
THE TOUR
- The Home page always has the latest recipe on top. The top menu bar, aka main menu, is static and will be visible as you’re scrolling down. It comes in handy for quick selections no matter where you are.
- In the Recipe Index, you will find different categories and then more categories. For your convenience, I sorted everything neatly like a suitcase ready to travel to foreign lands. By the way, I love packing and especially unpacking suitcases.
- And because I’m a multi-faceted person with many interests there is more. Under more, you will find my photography, short stories, lifestyle, and a couple of DIY projects.
ABOUT JAS
Jas is a writer, cook, photographer, and an avid cheesecake lover. She’s the author of Balkan Comfort Food, a mom and a grandma who absolutely adores her granddaughters, her biggest kitchen helpers. They don’t do the dishes yet but are really good at stirring ingredients and even keeping some of it in the bowl.
I’m a Bosnian expat living in Northern Indiana since the summer of 1998 following a six-year exile in Germany.
I grew up in a traditional European family, the kind of family that sits together for big weekend lunches. Those lunches always began with some kind of soup. It isn’t a big lunch unless you begin it with a spoon.
Based on my blog now, you’d never know that as a child I barely ate. Food didn’t interest me in the least and actually disgusted me. I would eat enough just to survive, and even then it would be just a few things such as bread and soup….rather, broth. And there better not be anything floating in it, or I wouldn’t touch it.
As a matter of fact, gagging was pretty common with most foods. My mom tried just about everything to get me to eat, including bribery. Endless doctor visits, blood test, MRI, CT scans, spoonfuls of fish oil in the middle of the night, but no matter what they’d try, I wouldn’t touch food. Not even all the teasing from schoolmates and name-calling (stick, skeleton, just to name a few) helped me like food.
I suffered from anorexia throughout my childhood, but not because I had issues with my weight. It’s not that I didn’t WANT to eat food, I just physically couldn’t. I can’t even say that I actually ever felt hungry.
Anorexia nervosa has two definitions:
an·o·rex·i·a
ˌanəˈreksēə/
noun1 a lack or loss of appetite for food (as a medical condition).
2 an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat.noun: anorexia nervosa
A rare sight of me actually eating
I always wore baggy clothes to hide how skinny I am (sometimes even two pairs of pants)
This promptly changed when I became pregnant with my daughter. I don’t have medical confirmation, but I believe that my pregnancy hormones changed something within my body, which in turn affected my metabolism. Suddenly, I found myself ravenously hungry and loving everything, the flavors exploding in my mouth. What had I been missing out on? Soon after, the war in Bosnia started, and now that I wanted to eat… there was no food. Everything was scarce, and meatless bean soup (grah) would be our only meal for many days in a row.
Nevertheless, I was changed. And vowed that once we escaped the war, food would be my medicine. I started exploring with flavors, and fortunately (or unfortunately as she’d tell you), my daughter was my guinea pig for many new creations.
A seed was planted and the American Dream realized once I was able to pursue blogging full time from home. Now my family will often see me flittering (or rolling…making up for those lost pounds) through my kitchen most of the day. And it’s something I truly enjoy doing – it’s my happy place. Hopefully, my joy of cooking shows through these pages on your screen and I hope that you truly enjoy trying new foods and exploring new flavors.
I share my home with my husband Rob, a fire investigator by day (and sometimes at night) with a side job of being my taste tester and with our two furry friends who always compete for that job.
SIL Aaron, daughter Andrea with Alyvia and Avelyn (Ava); stepdaughter Jessica, her husband Nick with Alaina and Alexia; husband Rob and Jas; stepson Ryan with girlfriend Brittany
IN A NUTSHELL
World cuisine doesn’t have to be expensive. By simplifying the dishes a little, you CAN get the same great taste for LESS money. I strive to teach you how to make quick and easy meals your family will love.
My promise to you: I will never share anything I don’t trust or haven’t tried myself. If I don’t like a recipe I won’t post it, although tastes are different and I can’t make you love or hate something I do. You just have to try it for yourself. 😉
MAKING CONNECTIONS
See my CONTACT page.
BRAGGERY AND AWARDS
As seen on:
1st time guest on a Dinner and a Book WNIT TV show.
2nd time guest on the Dinner and a Book WNIT TV show
WSBT 22 Morning News – tasty holiday recipe ideas
Take a look at my cookbook and see what others say about it. If you’d like a signed copy, I’d be happy to personalize it and mail it to you.
my cookbook on Amazon
my cookbook on Barnes & Noble
MY AWARDS:
Thanks for stopping by and reading about me. I hope you’ll say hello and stick around.
Let’s cook, chat, and create!
Thank you!
Hvala!
Danke!
Zucchini Maple Bacon & Gorgonzola Appetizer | GUEST POST
August 18, 2017 at 11:55 am[…] ABOUT JAS […]
Stephanie L. Robertson
May 12, 2017 at 12:29 pmHi Jas! It’s so nice to “meet” you! I always enjoy browsing recipes that will help feed a picky young eater. Thanks for sharing, and I hope you’ll visit me at my little north Alabama blog.
Blessings,
Stephanie
Jas
May 12, 2017 at 2:59 pmHi, Stephanie! Thank you for stopping by, it is nice “meeting” you as well. You have a lovely blog 🙂 Happy Mother’s Day!
Fabulous Friday Flavour: Jellyfish Shot by All That's Jas
July 8, 2016 at 1:40 pm[…] too happy to feature yet another fantastic creation from the awesome and talented blogger, Jas of All Trade who not only has made a recipe out of this but enlighten us with a little science in drinks for […]
Chep
February 11, 2016 at 12:51 amHI Jas, great blog!!. I live in Michigan but have family in SB. My husband is Bosnian from Banja Luka! I love Bosnian food and cannot wait to try your receipe.
allthatsjas
February 11, 2016 at 8:59 amHi, Chep! WOW, small world 😀 I’m so happy you found me. Where in Michigan do you live? I have a friend in GR and visit often. next time you are visiting SB, let’s have coffee! Say hi to your husband – perhaps I know him or his folks if he’s younger generation, although BL is not a small town…
My 2015 in Blogging Review
December 30, 2015 at 9:41 am[…] All That’s Jas […]
Featured Fabulous Friday Flavours: Hedgehog Cookies
December 25, 2015 at 8:22 am[…] nutty that would make the tummy happy and the soul all tuned-up. It reminded me of a cookie recipe Jas over at All That’s Jas posted last month on her blog – the Hedgehog […]
Barbara
December 14, 2015 at 2:35 pmIt’s so nice to meet you, Jas. I meet the nicest bloggers through Lisa’s site.
Barbara recently posted…Window Shopping in Paris
allthatsjas
December 14, 2015 at 8:26 pmThank you so much for visiting! I love meeting new bloggy friends! 🙂
Thursday Favorite Things 214 - All that's Jas
November 11, 2015 at 9:01 pm[…] About Jas […]
Respect
November 7, 2015 at 8:47 am[…] All That’s Jas […]
Rebecca
October 16, 2015 at 9:19 amI wondered when you said northern Indiana….I went to Bethel in Mishawaka, then lived there a few years after. My daughter really wants to go to Notre Dame next year. And we have family there. Small world. Do you like Hacienda? We used to love it years ago, but were back a couple of years ago and found it wasn’t quite the same.
Rebecca recently posted…A trip back to the 70’s at The Peppermill
allthatsjas
October 16, 2015 at 11:23 amYep, South Bend in my new home 🙂 We just had students from Bethel come for a community service day to our office. They do it every day. Small world, indeed. I haven’t been to Hacienda in quite some time…there are always new places to check out. Thanks for stopping in!!!
Mary-In the boondocks
August 5, 2015 at 12:20 pmIt is nice to meet you Jas. I live in Greece, but wish I was in USA right now. Nice to meet another European in blogland. I really enjoy looking at your photos. Come and visit me if you have a chance. My blog is Intheboondocks.weebly.com.
allthatsjas
August 6, 2015 at 11:16 amThank you for stopping in, Mary! WOW, Greece! Lucky you!!! I love meeting bloggers all over the world! Will visit your blog for sure 😀
Counting My Blessings and 3 Day "POST A QUOTE" Challenge #1
July 1, 2015 at 9:47 am[…] as I have just realised, a nice little mention by lovely, lovely Jas, a new-found, awesome bloggy friend, author of All That’s Jas who has linked my crazy, […]
Ann GrubbsnCritters
June 21, 2015 at 9:38 amHello, Jas! Just wanted to give you a shout-out and in case the pingback didn’t work, here’s for you! 🙂 Definitely no obligation!
http://grubbsncritters.com/2015/06/awards-late-never.html
allthatsjas
June 21, 2015 at 8:34 pmAw, Ann, thank you sweetie! I am honored! 🙂
Ann GrubbsnCritters
June 21, 2015 at 9:59 pm🙂 🙂 🙂
Sweet Potato Spring Salad
April 20, 2015 at 6:01 am[…] All that’s Jas, Jas of all trades. If you’d like to learn more what Jas does and make friends, connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google + or Instagram. […]
Jasna
March 20, 2015 at 5:57 pmHi Jas, My name is Jasna. I was born in Bosnia, living in Australia. Happy to follow your blog!
allthatsjas
March 20, 2015 at 6:30 pmHi, Jasna, so nice to meet you! 🙂 My full name is Jasminka and my Bosnians call me Jasna. I’m from Banja Luka and you? Happy to follow you back and try some of your recipes 😀
Vintage Mama
March 11, 2015 at 10:20 pmHi Jas – just now discovered that you live in northern Indiana. So do I! now that we are co-hostesses for the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop at Katherine’s Corner, thought it would be fun to get to know you. We are west of FW in Columbia City . . . . perhaps we are neighbors??? Have a good week! Nina @ Vintage Mama’s Cottage
allthatsjas
March 12, 2015 at 8:55 amSmall world, Nina! I live in good ole South Bend, just over an hour north from you. I would love to get to know you! Let’s plan something in the near future 😀
Megan @ Our pinteresting family
January 9, 2015 at 10:05 amLooks so delicious!!
allthatsjas
February 26, 2015 at 9:38 amThank you Megan, No one ever told me I look delicious before, but I’ll take it, LOL